Cut-off systems for use in cutting tubing as it continuously emanates from a tubing fabrication mill usually include a cut-off die set secured to a cut-off press. See U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,288,012; 3,288,011. See also U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,109,555 and 4,294,147 illustrating cut-off die sets.
An individual cut-off press can be used to sever a variety of tubing sizes. When the tubing size is varied, the tubemaker must install and secure to the cut-off press a cut-off die set corresponding to the particular tubing size. Further, if during the severing operation a die set requires replacement or repair, production of the tube mill must be temporarily halted in order to remove or repair the existing die set. Decreasing the time required to remove and install a cut-off die set decreases the down time of the tube mill which correspondingly increases the production and revenues of the tube maker.
Previously die sets were manually removed and installed by the tubemaker. The tube maker manually removes the die set by physically grasping and pulling the die set from the cut-off press onto a flat table or cart, the die set is installed in a reverse manner. Since the physical size of a die set increases with the size of the tubing, the amount of work required to remove or install a die set also increases with the size of the tubing. Eventually, the size of the die set increases to a point where the tubemaker is unable to manually install or remove the die set. Thus in order to remove or install a large die set the tubemaker requires some type of mechanical assistance.
Additionally, many cut-off presses utilize a carriage slidably mounted in the press bed on an incline. See U.S. Pat. No. 4,376,401. Manually installing and removing a die set from an inclined carriage is a difficult and time consuming chore and in the case of large die sets requires mechanical assistance.
Applicants' device provides the required mechanical assistance to quickly and efficiently install and remove a cut-off die set from a cut-off press.